Day 256

Toll 563+

Wall

Last evening, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni, publicly expressed his dismay towards Samyukt Kisan Morcha and pointed at ‘selective discrimination against him and no action against other leaders who were making similar comments (as him)’. However, he has also stated that he will abide by decisions taken at SKM meetings and that he doesn’t intend to ‘weaken the movement’.

Earlier SKM had suspended Chaduni for a fortnight for expressing his thoughts that farmers should pro-actively participate in elections and desire to start a ‘Mission Panjab’ platform. Chaduni’s recent statement has led to speculation on what could come next. Would SKM split, what would be the repercussions?

Frankly, no one knows. What we know is Chaduni’s union was instrumental in farmers reaching Delhi’s borders, Chaduni keeps bringing more and more farmers to the protests (recently the eighth convoy of farmers led by him reached Singhu), farmers have held on for over eight months, right now the Kisan Sansad is going very well, farmers have had major wins in Haryana against police and administration including a hunger strike through which they managed to free wrongly imprisoned farmers, given upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, west UP and even Lucknow have become active and most of all the government is worried.

The farmers movement is a great rush of energy, a huge river with multiple tributaries, dammed on Delhi’s borders. A dam that hasn’t opened in last six months – no talks with the government. I feel it is natural that the energies of the many unions and groups will clash with each other, just like water finds its ways to move around.

However, given the various unions and groups non-hierarchical arrangements with each other but alignment on the core issues, the resistance to the government will carry on. Whatever lapdog media says, it would be premature to speculate any waning of energies or costly splits in the protest. Let us stay focussed but also urge SKM to introspect and avoid disenchantment within the ranks.

The government is so worried about the farmers protest that in view of the coming August 15, the Prime Minister’s address, it has blockaded the Red Fort – which is now just a public memorial building in private hands – with a wall of shipping containers. The image is intensely ironic for the farmers are actually protesting for self-reliance – atam nirbharta – in food for the country and the government, beholden to corporates, wants to use these shipping containers to import and export food and impoverish the country.